At several gatherings across the Twin Cities, members of the Jewish community met to mark the first night of Hanukkah.  

A few dozen people braved the cold temperatures outside the Minnesota State Capitol on Sunday night.

"There's certainly a lot of grief and pain at knowing that across the ocean, there are Jewish people just like us who are being targeted," said Rabbi Tzemach Feller, a co-director of Chabad of Macalester-Groveland. "We are responding with increased light and by showing that they want us to cower and they want us to be afraid, but our response is to live loudly and proudly as Jews." 

Feller took a moment to acknowledge the deadly attack in Australia that took the lives of at least 15 people. The gunmen opened fire during a Jewish community gathering at a beach. Feller said Rabbi Eli Schlanger was one of those murdered in the attack, adding that Schlanger was also a representative of the international group Chabad.

Feller says security is top of mind in Minnesota and he's been in contact with local and federal law enforcement. 

"We are in constant contact with our local Synagogues and event coordinators organizing Jewish celebrations in our city. Saint Paul police officers will be in the area of the events as they occur," a spokesperson for the Saint Paul Police Department said in an email to WCCO. 

At a celebration in the Macalaster-Groveland neighborhood, people gathered around a 6-foot-tall menorah as Mayor-elect Kaohly Her climbed a step ladder to light the candle.

Rabbi Esther Adler of Mount Zion said it's a chance for different parts of the community to come together. 

"Community is so important to us as Jews, especially on this holiday, which is really all about the courage to be who we are," Adler said.